As I sat in my office around 11:50 a.m. Tuesday, I had a strange sense of déjà vu as my phone rang off the hook with the news that Sen. Arlen Specter was leaving the Republican Party. In May 2001, I was the press secretary for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott. Standing in the hallway off the Senate floor by the Ohio Clock, I watched Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont slowly walk into Lott’s leadership office to inform him that he was switching parties. The media and political frenzy began shortly thereafter, and Senate Republicans had to spend the spring and summer cleaning up the mess.

The Democratic Party is on an obvious cloud nine with yet another symbolic victory since taking the White House. And Capitol Hill Republicans are naturally frustrated, asking themselves the same things we did back then: “How do we handle this?” “What do we do now?” And while Tuesday’s news felt like history was repeating itself, this might eventually provide the footing Republicans have been struggling to find.

As Washington is rocked by Specter’s shocking announcement, there are natural comparisons being made to when Jeffords decided to become an independent and caucus with Senate Democrats.

But there are only a few real similarities between Specter’s and Jeffords’ party switches. Both occurred in the spring following the presidential election. Specter and Jeffords both represent states in the Northeast. And the Senate hung in the balance with a 50-50 power-sharing agreement dissolving back in 2001; now, a theoretical 60-vote threshold of filibuster-proof power has almost been reached.

There is only one really important difference: Specter is a survivor, while Jeffords wanted payback.

Specter switched sides simply because he can’t be reelected in the Republican primary in Pennsylvania. He is a survivor of cancer and of close elections. And changing parties gives him a greater chance to survive political extermination. His statement even justifies his reasoning by declaring that there are more Democrats than Republicans registered to vote in the state.

Jeffords switched because he wanted to hurt the Republican Party. He felt left out and didn’t think he was being treated as he should be by his fellow Capitol Hill Republicans and the Bush White House. Even though Jeffords was offered more power and prestige to stay, the senator from Vermont had already made up his mind to leave. In fact, it was Specter who had volunteered to conduct shuttle diplomacy between the leadership and Jeffords, but to no avail.

Just like in May 2001, when we were initially thrown off message and off balance, it is going to take focus and drive to get positive momentum going again. The Democratic Party can no longer call Republicans the “party of no.” It now has legitimate one-party rule that will ultimately make it responsible for Washington’s successes and failures.

Many pundits today will say that this a wakeup call, a time for the Republican Party to moderate its views in order to attract more to its ranks. We didn’t subscribe to that strategy back in 2001. Instead, when the world changed after the Sept. 11 attacks, a newly focused Republican agenda produced a new Senate majority in November 2002. And the Jeffords switch became completely irrelevant.

While Republicans should not cast their ideals aside for political expediency, they must find a new way to market and communicate their ideas that will attract moderates and independents in order to get back working majorities in the House, Senate and White House.

The only way to deliver Pennsylvania and other battleground states back to the GOP is by appealing to voters with solutions and themes that resonate with them. This means that Republicans in both the House and the Senate must work together to produce a simple, positive agenda that can be communicated effectively all over the country. It means the GOP must continue to find symbolic ways to show bipartisanship to get heightened attention. Finally, it means that the GOP must figure out a way to speak with one voice to break through the Obama megaphone.

With the tables now turned and Democrats running the show, Republicans are getting it together faster than the other side did 12 years ago. Instead of wallowing in the misery of the minority, as the other side did for years, they are trying to find their footing, testing different messages and learning how to work with each other again. New leaders, themes and tactics are now emerging. I hope the Specter switch will motivate Republicans on the sidelines to help figure out a way to rebuild the majority, rendering his move irrelevant, instead of just saying, “Good riddance.”

Ron Bonjean is a partner of Singer Bonjean Strategies, a full-service public affairs firm. He was formerly the chief of staff of the Senate Republican Conference and the top spokesman for then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert and then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.